Process of making tire-shoes.



F. A.'SEIBERLING & W. G. MATE.

PROGESS 0T MAKING TIRE SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY7, 190E].

Patented Feb. 1, 1910.

Fig- 2 Figi $5 uswattozu li t in rest FRANK A. SEIBERLING AND WILE 0. STATE, OF AKRON. OHIO; SAID STATE ASSIGNOR TO SAID SEIBERLING.

PROCESS OF MAKING- TIRE-SHOES.

aaaoca.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 7, 1909.

Patented rec. t, with.

Serial No. 494,588.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that We, FRANK A. Selena- Lnvo and WILL C. STATE, citizens of the United States, and residents of Akron, Summit county, Ohio, have invented a new and useful Process of; Making Tire-Shoes, of which the follo'Win is a specification, referen ce being had to t is accompanying drawing.

Our invention relates to the process of building up the open-bellied tire-shoes or tire-casings which are ultimately to be used in connection With an inflatable inner tube as pneumatic tires on automobiles. Such tireshoes are composed of a number of layers of rubber-coated fabric which are applied, one after the other, to a ring-core upon which they are finally vulcanized, such ring-core being made in sectionsso that itmay be re moved from the tire-shoe after the vulcanization has been completed. Whether these tireshoes are of the clencher or of the inextensible-edge type, it becomes necessary, in either case, to apply a head to each tireedge during the process of building up the tire on the ring-core, the only difference being that extensible beads are employed for clencher tires and inextensible beads are used when ineXtensible-edge tires are to be made. It has heretofore been the practice to Wind these beads into circular form on the ringcore and this from a continuous strip of bead material. fore also been applied to the ring-core in an uncured condition. disadvantage that the beads are never exactly the same size when applied and, being uncured, the rolling of the tire-edge in the l finishing operation stretches and distortsthe beads.

In accordance Wlth our process, we first construct the head of complete annular shape, preferably in a form of enactly proper size and convenient shape. We

thereupon also semi-cure the head for the 1 purpose of. hardening it. We finally apply this head, in its annular and semi-cured form, to its proper place on the layers of Q fabric Which have already been put on the ring-core. Ne thus avoid the cumbcrsome practice'of building the head on the ringcore, a place poorly adapted for the opera-- tion. e have a head of exactly correct size to begin With, because it has been molded in a form of the exact size. We have a bead of the correct size to end With, because the This bcad-material has hereto,

Such process has the l tort the hardened bead. VVe'can therefore,

more simply and as cheaply, produce open bellied pneumatic tires, to Which alone our invention relates, havingthe circumferential 1 lengths of their edges far more uniform than was heretofore possible. This is a matter of prime importance, especially for the inexl tensible edge-tires, because it is desirable to l having the tire-shoe lit the rim as' snugly as l possible. In the process of manufacture l however, a certain latitude must be allowed l for accidental variations. This means that, i according to our process, pneumatic tires can i be turned out from the factory With a greater average degree of snugness of lit to the rim than has heretoforebeen obtained.

In building up inextcnsible edge tire shoes, a ring-core having. a pair of annular grooves in its opposite faces is customarily employed. the beads, we apply cylindrical guides to the snugly fin and guide the inner circumfer= ences of the annular beads. ,In this way the beads are directed to their proper place on the ring-core. Then the final or outer layers of the rubber-coated fabric are applied to the ring-core, the bead still being held in proper position by the cylindrical guide.

of the outer layers of fabric may be turned i under the head to finish the tire-edge. All I this will be clear from the drawings, in j which drawn and the outer 'layers'of fabric turned under; Fig. 3 is a cross-section of an annular or circular form in which the bead is 3 made up. Fig. i is a cross-section of the lannular mold inwhich the head is semicured; and Fig. 5 is a detail of the rubbercoated wire tape from which We build inextensible beads.

bead D vill be r eadiIy understood. YVe preferably utilize a flat wire tape d, shown i in Fig- 5, which is coated with rubber so as to make it adhere to adjacent layers. The annular form A, Fig. 3, contains a depressed groove having the shape in cross-section to be given to the bead. fl his groove is also, made To insure proper centering of grooves, having their outer faces of a size to Finally this guide is removed and the edges The process of building the inexten sibleof exactly the proper size circumferenlially o 1 Figure l is a crosssection of thering-core with a cylnidrical guide; lligv 2 1s a' cross section of the ring-core with the guide with- Q espea some filling strips (1 are wound in the;

spaces left between the tape. edges of the rnbber-coatcd fabric d are turned over, indicated on the right of Fig. 3. lVhile-other hardening processes 1.0 may be employed for toughening the bead,

we prefer to use the most eflicient hardening process known to us,namely the operation of semi-curing in, a vulcanizing mold. This vulcanizing mold B is of the usual form, as

shown in Fig. 4. and has a cover for the purpose of firmly compressing the bead D into the groove contained therein. \Ye need hardly add that. this groove is also accurately made of the size and shape desired for the finished head. The head D, having been tansferred from the form A to the groove in the mold B. and the cover B having been applied and clamped down, the mold is placed in the vulcauizing apparatus and left Then the l there for a time sufiicient to seuiii-cure the bead. The word semi-cure is so well understood in the art that it needs no further defi-' uition here. Finally the mold is removed from the vulcanizing apparatus and the semi-cured bead is removed from the mold.

We come now to the operations of building up the tire-shoe as conducted on the ringcore (-1. shown in sections in Fig. 1 and layers" of rubber-coated canvas l l. E the edges being cut or trimmed so that they lie fiush with the bottom of the groove C. Thereupon the cylindrical guides are shoved into the lateral grooves and the in the size of the bead. It. is unnecessary to describe the step of attaching the final layer of fabric representin the true cover or head or the process of vulcanizing the tireshoe on the core, since these are exactly the same as in the present practice.

Vt'hile we have described our process, in detail, when inextensible beads are used, it will be understood that for clencher tires using extensible heads the procedure will be the same, excepting that. no wire or other non-stretchable substance will enter into the composition of the bead.

1. In the operation of building open-hellied pneumatic tire-shoes from layers of fabric on ring-cores, the process of first constructing an annular bead, hardening the same and then applying it in this annular and hardened form to the ring-core, substantially as described.

2. Inthe operation of building open-bellied pneumatic tire-shoes from layers of fabric on ring-cores, the process of constructing an annular bead. semi-curing it, and then applying it in its annular form to the ringcore, substantially as described.

3. In the operation of building open-bcllied pneumatic tire-shoes having inextensible edges from layers of fabric on ring-cores, the process of winding the non-stretchable bead-material in or on an annular form,

; semi-curing the bead, and then applying the There is first applied to the core one or more head. in its annular form. to the ring-core. substant ally as described.

4. In the operation of building open-beli lied pneumatic tire-shoes from layers of fab- 40 annular, semi-cured heads I) are caused to their edges are trimmed, the guides slide over the guides and into position against the layers of fabric already in place. One or more additional layers of fabric E. E are now placed upon the layers E, I are ric on ring-cores. the process which consists in constructing an annular bead, applying a cylindrical guide to the ring-core. and sliding the annular head over the guide into ren'iovcd. and the edges of the layers E. E are sepaately turned under the heads I). as shown in Fig. 2. by usinga convenient fiat tool as -a-punch for forcing the layers be tween the surface of the ring-core and the inner face of the bead D. A hand roller is also used to smooth down the layers in this operation. During this finishing operation, the bead D may be pried away from the surface of the ring-core by inserting a tlat split ring F therebctween,

place on the core. substantially as described.

a. In the operation of building open-bellied pneumatic tire-shoes from layers of fabric on riiigcores, the process which consists in constructing and hardenii'ig an annular bead, applying a cylindrical guide to the ring-core, sliding the annular hardened bead E over the guide into place on the core, removas shown in Fig. 2.

But, by reason of the fact that the beadD is j semi-cured, the rather severe finishing operations cause no enlargen'ient or other change ing the guide, and finishing the tire-edges. substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two sul'lscribing witnesses.

F tANK A. SEIBERLING. VILL C. STATE. \Vitnesscs Rose M. LEMIEUX, O'r'ro W. MYERS. 

